The circle widens
by AnthyUtena
Summary: A strange new boy enters the fellowship
1. Default Chapter

Anthy: Hey guys, this is kind of a personal treat for Utena (well "Utena" irl) She is obsessed with Legolas from LOTR.  
  
Utena: So?  
  
Anthy: Here is a fic (a long one with) darling Utena and Legolas.  
  
  
  
  
  
The fellowship eyed the newcomer skeptically. The "boy" who stood before them looked suspicious. Though no one could tell why. This boy, who called himself Caleb stood before them, in leggings, deer hide boots, a deep blue tunic, and leather bound armor. He was skinny and fairly tall. He had shortish cherry-brown hair, which in his child hood years, could have belonged to Strider.  
  
"I have come from my village to help." The boy was so young looking, and his voice was so high, that most of the fellowship guessed he just hadn't hit puberty yet. Legolas found himself studying the boy, and the bow he carried with him.  
  
"D'you know how to use that?" He asked him arrogantly, being the skilled archer he was.  
  
"Yes m'lord." The boy seemed to blush as Legolas turned his eyes to him.  
  
"You can join us if you can duplicate my shot." Legolas challenged, looking to the others. They all relaxed. The prospect of anyone, much less a human being able to shoot like Legolas was unthinkable. There was no way this Caleb would be under their feet for the remainder of the journey.  
  
"Very well M'lord." Caleb replied as he drew an arrow from his quiver and watched as Legolas drew his arrow back on the taught bowstring.  
  
"It was nice meeting you master Caleb." Legolas chuckled in a cocky voice as he let the arrow fly into a tree trunk nearly ¼ of a mile away. Caleb did not respond, but set his arrow onto his bowstring and drew back. As he did so, Legolas noticed what seemed to be a small length of linen hanging out from the back of the boy's tunic. He paid so much attention to this, that he only heard Caleb's shot. WhirrrroooshCRACK! Legolas' head spun to see his arrow split in two by Caleb's.  
  
"Now, M'lord, we best get going. Night will fall soon and we need to set up camp." The others gaped. All except Gandalf. Who narrowed his eyes at this "boy".  
  
  
  
  
  
Caleb set off into the forest to gather wood for the fire, as Gandalf had instructed him, so he could talk about more private matters. Those questioning the boy's interest in the ring. Legolas, with wounded pride stalked into the woods after the boy to give him a stern talking to.  
  
"You! Boy!" Legolas shouted after Caleb, who seemed to pay him no mind. "I SAID boy!" He shouted, quickening his pace. Caleb still did not respond. That was it. Legolas had caught up to him and yanked the scrap of linen poking out from the edge of the boy's tunic. The boy yelped in pain, spinning around, only for the edge of it to become caught on a branch, rather than Legolas' hand. He had a look of deep pain in his eyes.  
  
"What'd you do that for!?" The boy shrieked. Legolas' blinked and blushed. As if he had just peaked up a girls skirt while traversing under a bridge, and being caught. Legolas shook off his startled daze.  
  
"You weren't answering me." He explained in a huff. The boy turned and continued walking. Legolas stood completely still as the length of linen became longer and longer behind the boy. All of the sudden the boy stopped, and turned to face the befuddled Legolas. He blushed and furrowed his brow.  
  
"Go back to camp!" the boy yelled. Legolas continued to stare at the linen.  
  
"Why are you trailing linen?" Legolas asked stepping closer. The boy hugged the twigs he carried to his chest desperately as Legolas drew closer.  
  
"None of yer' business!" Caleb shouted, trying to step back. He was visibly shaking. Legolas raised a brow, and made a quick swipe at the bundle of sticks Caleb held. They dropped to the ground with leaf muffled thuds, as the boy cast his squinted eyes down. Legolas couldn't believe what he saw. The "boy's" tunic was now pulled tight by the means of two breasts. The boy wasn't a boy at all.  
  
"A WOMAN!?" Legolas shouted in disbelief. The girl lunged forward and covered his mouth.  
  
"SHHH! They can hear you!" She hissed. Legolas stumbled back.  
  
"That was fully my intention!" He nearly shouted again. She looked to him with pleading eyes.  
  
"Please, you don't understand. My father and mother…" She gripped Legolas' tunic with her hands, her green eyes searching his face desperately. He looked her over as she drew herself closer to him. "They were killed…" She cast her head down, her forehead nearly touching his chest. That said it all. Legolas was frustrated by many things. His oblivion to her true gender, his lack of power in this situation, and how she had been able to match his shot.  
  
"Very well." He grumbled, trying to act unconcerned. "I will not tell anyone. But you're masquerade will not fool Gandalf for long." The girl smiled widely.  
  
"My real name is Evelyn. Evelyn of house Veritas." She tried to make herself look bigger. Legolas only scoffed at this. She sighed and collapsed her rigid posture.  
  
"You're so friendly, you must be a whiz with the ladies." She mused sarcastically.  
  
"I'll have you know…" Legolas started with force, when Evelyn unceremoniously removed her tunic and began to re-bind her breasts. Legolas felt a heated blush spread across his face. "Uh- I…" He looked down as she continued. She chuckled and drew the hair back from her face, pulling her shirt down to signify that she was finished. He looked back at her. Her face was cute, and her body was just as so. Now that he knew, he felt stupid ever thinking she could have been a boy.  
  
"Let's go back, or they'll think that its more than your bow that's taken some curves onto itself." She giggled at her own remark, and began back with her armfuls of twigs.  
  
To be continued…. 


	2. A debt

The two headed back for the camp ground. Frodo seemed greatly distressed. His brow was furrowed, and a thin sheen of sweat was beginning to form.  
  
"What is it frodo?" Evelyn or more aptly; Caleb, asked.  
  
"The wraiths…" He was quivering. Caleb applied a slight pressure to a large muscle knot in Frodo's shoulder, Frodo imeadiatly loosened. He sighed and looked to him with a look of great relief. "Thanks!" he beamed.  
  
"Any time. Such a kind little one." He smiled. Frodo blushed. Though he didn't know why.  
  
"Kind, but 'e smells like crap!" Pippin shouted. "You smell just as foul Caleb." He added, poking them both in the ribs. "There's a lake 'round the corner. What do you say we all go rid ourselves of this.." He sniffed the air mockingly a few times. "Stench."  
  
The others laughed in good fun as Gandalf lit his pipe. Caleb went as white as Gandalf's beard.  
  
"Aye, but someone must get supper ready." Caleb stumbled defensivly.  
  
"The boy's right," Legolas jumped to Evelyn's aid. "Caleb will bathe later, and fix supper now."  
  
"Very well then." Pippin dismissed. "Let's go!" The four hobbits and the dwarf, Gimli, set off for the lake. Legolas was about to leave as well when Gandlaf shot him a glance, and very calmly pulled the pipe from his mouth.  
  
"Legolas," He started, in a calm, deep voice. "I seek some confrence with you whilst we bathe." Caleb narrowed his eyes slightly, then pretened not to have noticed this request.  
  
Legolas swallowed hard and followed the wise old wizard around the bend. Gandalf walked casually, carrying his staff with him, his gray hair waving in the slight breeze.  
  
"Something very strange about that boy…" Gandalf mused aloud. "I wish I could only see his thoughts," He appeared slightly distraught. "Yet, there is almost a wall around his mind, and I cannot." Legolas felt uneasy in this circumstance. "Who knows what he may want with the ring."  
  
"He doesn't want the ring." Legolas blurted out. Gandalf stopped and turned his head to face him. His thick gray eyebrows heavily brought down in contemplation.  
  
"We can assume nothing…unless you know something I don't." Legolas wanted to bite his tounge clear out of his mouth as Gandalf shrugged and placed the pipe back in his mouth. "Tell me now Legolas, spare us all the heartache of a ruined mission." Gandalf continued, somewhat irritated.  
  
"She won't ruin the mission!" Legolas protested. However, he caught his mistake too late.  
  
"She?" Gandalf repeated quizzically.  
  
"A mere error in speech.." Legolas cast his gaze down and removed his gauntlets by the lake's edge.  
  
"She may be able to block me, but you can't Legolas." Gandalf continued. "Who is she?"  
  
"A maid, of some house or another." Legolas answered coldly, not liking the inferior position his arm was twisting him into.  
  
"You haven't answered my question to the best of your ability my boy. Tell me what you know."  
  
"Her name is Evelyn..of house Veritas." He mumbled under his breath as he raised his tunic over his head. Gandalf seemed to have trouble breathing.  
  
"Did she say anything of her parents?" Gandalf asked with great urgency.  
  
"They're dead." Legolas answered flatly, sliding into the water.  
  
"Meriel.." Gandalf whispered under his breath, only the rippling water and Legolas' ears hearing the prayer-like word. Upon this Gandalf looked broken as he gripped his staff very tightly.  
  
"Don't expose her Gandalf, this mission is all she has." Legolas asked firmly, before submerging himself in the water.  
  
"I owe her more than that my dear child." Gandalf whispered painstakingly as he turned back to camp. 


	3. Corrino Valley?

Legolas stalked back through the woods in a silvery silk tunic with pewter celtic knot toggles. He detected the strong smell of spices in the wood. Inevitably Evelyn was cooking. "Hopefully her delicately prepared cuisine won't give her away." Legolas thought to himself. Just why did he care if it did? This was all too confusing for him to sort out on his own. Maybe, since Gandalf knew now, he could talk to him.  
  
When Legolas re-entered the camp grounds, everyone was gathered around, and Caleb was ladling generous amounts of a delicious looking fish stew into wooden bowls. Pippin and Meri were fighting over which bowl would be theirs as Gandalf light the weed in his pipe. Even Gimli seemed to be eyeing the stew with interest. However, Aragorn seemed aloof. He seemed concerned, and his concern was clearly aimed toward Caleb.  
  
The bowls were passed around and almost everyone dug in. Legolas, who had forgot his own hunger was rapidly slurping the soup down before he realized. The girl did wonders with dried fish and a few wood weeds. However Aragorn made very sure to sniff and taste the soup out before gulping it all down. Legolas who inevitably was the only one who noticed this, allowed himself a little chuckle. Then looked to Caleb, and evidently caught "him" in a stare. The two blushed and averted their gaze. Shortly after the clacking of wooden bowls and spoons was interrupted by the wise wizard.  
  
"Tomorrow we set toward the Corrino valley." He instructed sternly. Caleb looked as if he had choked on something foul.  
  
"The Corrino valley M'lord? What do you want of there?" Caleb asked frantically.  
  
"I wish to pay a visit to my Friend's daughter, who's dear mother has since passed away." He answered dutifully.  
  
"The lady Merial is long dead M'lord, and if you don't mind me saying, I've heard the young lady is just as unreachable." Caleb argued, in a fatal attempt to sway the wizard's mind.  
  
"Aye, that is why I must go." Gandalf answered with a pain-soaked face. The others watched closely.  
  
"I wish a word with ye, M'lord." Caleb pleaded, shaking visibly now.  
  
"What is it boy?" Gandalf asked irritatedly.  
  
"Let me go to tell the Lady of your arrival. I am from Corrino, I have served as a squire in the kingdoms stables." He lied cunningly. Aragorn eyed him with interest as he shot this lie so convincingly forward.  
  
"Aye, that is a good Idea. You and Legolas will set forth tonight." He instructed calmly as he sucked on his pipe. Legolas looked franticly to Gandalf, as if pleading with him to change his mind. "Best to pack those clothes Legolas. You will need all of the finery you can produce. If that girl is anything like her mother, there will be a ball." There seemed to be a twinkle resonating from his stormy blue eyes as he said this.  
  
"Aye, and we shall be waiting there upon your arrival." Legolas assured him, trying to hide his frayed nerves.  
  
  
  
The two started out towards the rim of the forest. Evelyn seemed to hold a glare of contempt to the horizon of budding stars. Legolas eyed her for a while. Her skin was so white in the moonlight it took on almost a bluish glow. Her harsh look had begun to make him feel uncomfortable.  
  
"Why'd you leave?" Legolas asked coolly as he carefully stepped over the sprouting plants, and around the saplings toward the edge of the forest.  
  
"I couldn't give them the kingdom they wanted." Evelyn answered simply.  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"My mother was a goddess. A half elf. She was beautiful, kind, brilliant, and talented."  
  
"But?" Legolas interjected for her.  
  
"But, my mother did something unheard of."  
  
"Which was?"  
  
"She had a child outside of wedlock." She rested a hand on her chest. Legolas looked at her funny.  
  
"So? She just marries him before anyone knows…right?"  
  
"Wrong. He disappeared. I've never even met him."  
  
"So how does this affect your rule?" Legolas asked confused.  
  
"Well, after my mother died…" She paused for a moment before finishing her thought. "I couldn't hold up the illusion of the happy royal family. So I left it in the care of a good friend, hoping that I could make a real difference out here, on the outside. Hoping I would meet people, and live a real life…" She stopped as they came to the edge of the forest into the middle of a field.  
  
"But you're living a lie Evelyn…" Legolas looked at her deeply. She looked even more upset after he said this.  
  
"Better than living dead." She answered solemnly as she set her pack down, and made it clear that they would be stopping here for the night. 


End file.
